On Education, Formation, Citizenship and the Lost Purpose of Learning

The Reading Augustine series presents concise, personal readings of St. Augustine of Hippo from leading philosophers and religious scholars. The relationship between reading good books and becoming good people has a long, rich history in the West, forming the heart of liberal education. Yet today, in an age overgrown with information, technological distraction, academic hyper-specialization, and moral fragmentation, have we lost sight of the moral and spiritual purposes of reading? Starting from the beginnings of book culture in late antiquity, On Education, Salvation, Happiness and the Gift of Reading explores how Augustine of Hippo shaped our understanding of the moral demands and spiritual possibilities of reading. As it traces how Augustine arrived at his innovative view of reading, this book reveals the impact of Augustinian reading throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and up to and beyond the birth of the modern university.